Soviet Log 21
Welcome to the Gulag We picked up the new chapter on the "Gulag Express" headed deep into the Siberian wilderness. The conditions on the train were pretty terrible and the less we dwell on the effects it had on our health (and hair!) the better. Our equipment had been stripped after we were arrested so we mostly huddled together in our orange jumpsuits for days on end as the frozen wasteland rolled by. Eventually, after Baba Yaga only knows how long, we arrived at the end of the line. Our new 'winter holiday destination' was a Gulag run by the political arm of the Soviet Special forces, assisted by the Greeting Committee. We later found out that this was a special Gulag where sensitive political prisoners were hidden away beyond the reach of the normal government apparatus. The camp was composed of two mirrored sides split by tracks that ended at a mountainous slope. Separated on either side of the tracks were male and female areas with little fraternization allowed betwixt. Barracks housing the prisoners were surrounded by administrative and support buildings (i.e. garage, admin offices, etc.). In a time-honored gulag tradition, prisoners were expected to work most of the day to earn their keep. Work shifts were broken up into A-F designations. The higher the letter the better the shift. We started on "C" Shift working with D to log the local hillside. Later it was rumoured were going to move to mining but that was considered a 'lateral' move. Shift B was the 'yard shift' which we took a turn at one day. It was far less dangerous than the mining/logging - we had a shift accident with Niki and another inmate seriously wounded that only surviving thanks to our medics and magics. It also provided access to valuable yard resources and personnel. We learned that previous escape attempts had failed when they had cut through the external wire fence and fled on foot right into the range of snipers placed on corner buildings. Those same corner buildings house AA/AV/missile installations. Nobody had survived the previous escape attempt nor the one before that. The camp leader is Commander Barisnikov with Sub Commander Danaka and Commander Porakov rounding out the leadership triumvirate. Katya criticalled on Info-Gathering to learn that Barishnikov is a drunk, Danica is a conniving Rogue looking for leverage her fellow leaders, and Korikov is a lesbian robotics genius (she's devoting all her time to building mini-robots). All three have influence over the shift schedules. They also have twin witch mercenaries working for them. They may have supernatural like visibility into goings on in camp. There are also 32(?) guards with half being pilots. We made some contacts with the other prisoners in our barracks, too. Paulina seemed to be a local leader type (labour leader?). Her assistant, Zlata, was always buzzing around Paulina (much to annoyance of Katya who prefers uninterrupted persuasions). Niki was on the train with us and could be useful as 2nd-tier militarist but should not be overly trusted due to her Malevolent and Greedy nature. Over our first four days, Eva and Roc worked on tech stuff while Katya set about learning more about the camp and gaining some bargaining power via info gathering and rogue ops. We also managed to group-beguile our entire barracks into working together to get a cushy yard shift for the cost of 45 pieces of bread. We managed to save that much up pretty fast with everyone saving a half-piece each day. Day five (i.e. tomorrow) is when we get that shift in the yard. Katya tried to include herself in the deal-making with Paulina but Kalina got in the way so Paulina went alone. Our Day-5 "B" shift starts in the morning. P.s. There was something with a hat-rat. Roq seemed pretty set on it. Rewards 11 Generic (Huge Season 2 session upgrade!!) Katya with the Log Bonus: 4 Mystic and 1 Bennie 4.5 blocks (for those keeping track at home and Arbiter NPC Upgrade Bullshittery)